Ode to Oluwatoyin Salau, by Ummkulthum Hassan

You lay in the cold earth and I think it unjust

how a creature like you rests in a doleful grave;

detached from this world but never forgotten,

I promise to remember you, beautiful one

And my thoughts of you: they hover around

with pixie-like wings they pass swiftly too

I mention to God of your loveliness and plead

for an abode above the heavens, safe with him

My daughters shall have skin the likes of hers

and in their little hearts: courage like that of hers,

pitch black hair that dazzle when damp like hers,

their speech full of life and wisdom just like hers

I shall narrate to them stories of a girl named Toyin,

a girl with dreams so gold that gold envied her

I’ll tell them how her skin shone under the sun

how she died fighting for its beauty to be noticed

All my life I shall remember you with my poetry

and I’ll send odes to the angels who look after you,

telling them how you were so powerful to destroy

so they hasten to send you to a daybreak paradise

'ODE TO OLUWATOYIN SALAU' won a prize in Teen Belle's online competition, the Sappho Writing Competition (held throughout June 2020), sponsored by http://feministstickerclub.com.